Waiting to enter Howl-o-scream

I gave up my shift last night to get some rest. I had worked Tuesday - Thursday night and hadn't gotten any home work done since its been late nights at the restaurant. Besides the there was a party of 60 coming and a show at the theater so it would have been a mad house and not in a good way because the food takes a while people would have been pissed off so I rather stayed home. My Scottish friend has visitors this week: two of her sisters (from Scotland), one of her nieces and a friend (from Toronto). They stopped by the restaurant Thursday night. Here are they with Ronnie the owner and Ms Dorothy (right) a long time customer and friend or Brenda and I.




Busch Gardens Howl-O-Scream stood on their schedule for Friday night. So okay I was going to relax Friday and maybe do some homework - but Howl-O-Scream can be relaxing right?

You know I am rarely on time (well more like never) but I try. So I said I was going to pick up my friends hubby on the way to the park so they wont have to drive all the way back down (30min past the park) and we'd meet them at 7pm. Well I was there ON TIME and they weren't we ended up waiting for 30min!!!!!




The park was awesome it was hot and humid but doable. First thing - WICKED WOODS. We get around the first corner and there was only 4 of us - shit we lost 3. Damn it were are in a haunted maze and 3 people short - did they get abducted? Eaten? ... We decided there was really no good reason to find out putting ourselves in danger and pressed on trying to get out.

We moved onto Ireland. Photos op in front of the talking tree.












We went on to see the Wicked Witch on Cork Screw Hill. This is an awesome 4-D ride into the old Ireland. See except for Doug, my friends husband, all the ladies get motions sick - so no roller coasters. But I did trick them into The Curse of DarKastle too- both so much fun and purrrfect Halloween rides. And trust me of the "Katy I am going to kill you" screams there was laughter and a few startled screams.
After the Cork Screw Hill we got out just in time for Jack is Back a fun show.



Check out the two Scottish visitors picking up guys along the way. Now wonder they had to wear the horns ...

Sadly we didn't get to do anymore Maze's, haunted houses or rides as the park closed at 10. We did get a chance to get some Ice scream on the way out. Their ice cream is theeeeeeeeee best. I can't wait for Grumpy and I to come back up and check out the rest of the Scarry stuff. (This way I can hide behind his back) Tonight I am joining Brenda and her visitors at the German Restaurant for an early dinner before Grumpy and I head to see some old friends of his.


Oh Shit I better hop to it and get my homework done so I can play.

bye bye - its been fun

What a weekend. Man first that crap with Boston and trying to get home - I just want to point out this is two out of two for Boston and if at all possible I will avoid number 3. The first time was a few years back, I went up for some training for the AP stuff. I got in late, there was no place to get food, then the fire alarm in the hotel was set off and at 2am all of us where out in the rain then there was no breakfast and to top the trip off my flight home got canceled. I finally got on a flight to DC (it was Grumpys b-day and I was trying to get back). I had no idea on how to go from there. Some lady on the plane heard me and said she could give me a ride to Richmond from where Grumpy picked me up. Everything was fine till her and her finance started talking about mental patients, sicknesses and institutions - then I got a bit scared.
This weekend was quite as dramatic I never did find out about what was going on in Philly and why no flights left from there, I ended up after waiting for 5hs flying into Richmond. From there I got a rental car - it was supposed to be $25 but ended up costing me $68! Then I got on the road and get stuck in friggen traffic!!!!! Then to make my weekend even more a success I get pulled over Saturday while following traffic. I have a squeaky clean driving record so I need to find out what to do.

Work, Saturday night, was okay. I got a party off 11 that where fun to work and I made $116 of them. That helped take the sting out of loosing a big party that was coming in later that night (the 2 that got two work it made nearly $400 each of it!)

Today was my last day at Busch Gardens. It was kind of bitter sweet. I will miss a lot of the people there but I am glad that now I may have my Sundays off. Yahhhhh I get one day off a week - well except for when I have to do AP stuff. Well I may get my house a bit cleaner - maybe.

Still here

Hi everyone,

I am still here. Thank you all for your wishes and thoughts.

The last week/end has been pretty quiet. I didn't work all weekend with the wake and funeral. It was kind of nice not to rush around and I decided to hand in my resignation to Busch Gardens. I haven't worked much this season and am not looking forward to work as things have changed and were we used to have all sorts of fun this year that wasn't the case. Besides with the gas prices going up I really don't feel like driving 45min to a minimum wage job. This way I have one day of a week and get to spend my days doing things like having lunch with Grumpy at Nawab (which we did Sunday) and taking the doggies to the beach and so forth.

Most of my weekend was spent trying to fix my computer. My Dell Inspiron had crashed last week and the geek squad said its the hard drive - I told them not to fix it since I had already payed $300 for them to tell me the hard drive is broken. I didn't like this labtop from the getgo to big, only runs like 30min on battery ... I had tried to return it just to find out Dell has a 28 day return policy - and I called day 29! So now I am trying to figure out what to do. I hooked up my moms old laptop to be the base computer (hooked up to the wireless router and my printer) but it doesn't work so a former coworker of mine is coming out to help me. If it doesn't work we'll have to go get a CPU I saw some for $289 at comp USA which should do. We don't need it for things like video games and so forth.

I am hoping not to have to get one right now because then I can go and buy the new Blackberry I want. See I have been holding out for a Blackberry because they didn't have the camera and video camera and they looked kind of funky but I really like this one. I am just not liking the idea that I have to pay $549 (-$200 instant discount). Granted I use my points for it and would probably pay much less than that but still. That means I can't use the points for something else. Oh I am such a gadget nerd. Once I set my eyes on a new one I can barely contain myself. I have to give my self some kuddos because this one has been out for a month and I have not yet ran to a store. I have however checked it out online repeatedly. I even called customer service for T-mobile trying to find out a way to get it cheaper - like adding a new line and so forth. But there is nothing out there. The thing is it wont get cheaper for some time. I mean all the other Blackberries are still like $3-400 and they have been around for years. Mhh I don't know how long I can stand to wait. I just luv new toys and I have been waiting for that one for several years now.

Almost forgot to show you all pictures of my new "sister" - Missy. My mom calls her, her child so that makes her my sister right? Here she is modeling the leather raincoat my mom bought here. To my question about her head and butt getting wet my mom just answered "what you want me to get her an umbrella?" And here she is in her new car. To me she is to small kind of looks like a overgrown rat but hey that may just be sibling rivalry.

What did you do this weekend?

Weekend

So last week was chaotic as usual. The restaurant has been super busy the last few weeks and I made $100 or more each day I worked. Which is great especially this I am so busy this week that I only have one shift (Saturday) and if by a miracle I do have to got to Miami Friday I have to give that one up too.

So Thursday I get a call from the cook of the German Restaurant where I used to work. She wanted to tell me that she had some German Potato Soup that was left from the day before and also ask if I could talk to a guy. I am like what guy. That's when she put my old boss on the phone who told me apparently there was some guy at the restaurant asking them for help - he is German and wants to stay here. For whatever reason they thought I could help him and asked me to call him. As I am a nice person I did as asked but there is not much I could do in terms of helping him. I advised him to talk to an immigration lawyer and gave him the contact info of a good one and I told him he could always come back and work for Busch Gardens using their international program. Which is only during the season but at least he can work legally for several month while doing that program. We talked a little more about all that when he came by the restaurant Friday night. But again there isn't much I can do for him - he needs to find a job that will sponsor his work visa.

Saturday I had to go and do an exit interview for one of my girls it went pretty quick so afterwards I went by Busch Gardens to get all my free tickets (the poor lady couldn't get over how many I got) then it was home to make pasta salad and head out to a BBQ friends were having. The weather was just gorgeous and I really wished I could have stayed but ... at least were were busy and I made lots of money that night.

Sunday I met my girl friends for lunch at our favorite Indian restaurant. I hadn't seen my English friend in a while and hadn't really talked to her either since the thing with AJ happened her very best friend died a couple of years ago from cancer and all this has opened those wounds for her.

Anyhow after lunch I went and got some essentials for the AP meeting (cookies, chips, water and a volleyball). The meeting was fun. The trainer taught the girls all sorts of ways of getting out of trouble and I got a new toy. Mhh I bet I could do some damage with that if someone is stupid enough to attack me.

After the meeting I handed out the t-shirts that had finally gotten delivered. See now I can find my boy and girls anywhere I go - just look for the blue. Aren't they cute/handsome.
Oh and I figured out how to use the knowledge I gained making the video. I think I will make one for each year - adding all the AP pictures into it and make every AP do a mini interview. I'll put it on google video (not youtube) that way they can download it and burn it on CD's. I think it would be a cool keepsake for the AP's don't you think?

Some of the AP's stayed around to talk to me and one of them it took me about 30min to calm down. She is relatively new to my area - came from a family in NY state. Her new family has 3 "nice" dogs that the kids play with. At one of the play dates she had with another AP at her house (family was okay with that) the little girl visiting was bitten in the face by one of the dogs. She needed 5 stitches. The AP whose house this happened at is so upset that it seems the family is blaming her - making all these new rules including that she can't see/play with other AP's and kids while working. Now I understand why you'd not want to have the kids over to that house but in general thats a bit drastic. I tried to get her to understand the things the family was worrying about and I think I got through to her in some aspects. Fun Fun - talk about a tough first week - seeing the kid you are to take care off on the floor crying and bleeding ...

Tonight I got to finish my simulation paper - I did finish the simulation and wrote it up so its just a matter typing those notes up so they make sense to anyone :). Hopefully I wont take me all night. This week should be fairly relaxed. I had to tell the restaurant I couldn't work Tuesday and Wednesday which resulted in only getting one shift (Saturday) - so I am off most of the week yeahhhhhh.

I also got my employee night tickets to ride. Click on the picture to get pictures and videos from the official site

I got a ticket for all three nights but most likely I will only go once but I can't wait.

See there would be no way in hell I'd ride it this year unless its on employee night where hopefully the lines are going to be much shorter.

RATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ....

... as one of my favorite characters (Zedd) from the Sword of Truth Series would say.



I am so annoyed and more than anything I am annoyed at myself. You know how you get mad at yourself because you should know better ...

Mhh let me start from the beginning. I didn't get home early at all this week except for Monday and there I had to do the final project till late.

Tuesday I worked at the restaurant and since we had 4 big parties and a worthless bus boy we had to reset the entire restaurant and do our side work so I didn't get home until around 11:30pm.

Wednesday I had to run from the office down to Virginia Beach (about 45min drive) from there run to the AP meeting at the Bookstore and didn't end up home - for the first time - until about 9pm.

So yesterday I kinda hoped for an earlier night. I had Grumpy walk the pups to the Nature Park where I took them and he drove the car home. After getting home (about 3miles) I grabbed a sandwich and headed to Williamsburg to interview a new Family. These normally take 1 1/2 - 2hours. Mhh 10:30pm!!! I finally called it a night. I headed home trying to stay awake when I thought of calling my Scottish friend to see if she would mind working for me tonight so I could go into the office late (and stay later). She said she would IF I came and met her for a drink. So I got home at midnight loving the idea that tonight I would be home.

Well, as I pull into the office this morning (2hs late since I was planning on working later) I get a call from my friend. She hadn't gone to sleep yet and would be unable to work. RATS!!!!!!!!! now I was missing 2 hours of my already busy workday. I haven't decided if I am going in this weekend to make it up or not. I have enough personal time to last me a life time that's not the issue but not getting my work done is - to me anyway!
The thing is I kinda knew it wasn't going to work last night but I let myself believe that it would - should have known better.

So now I have to work tonight, tomorrow night at the restaurant and Sunday at Busch Gardens. Lets hope the restaurant is busy that way the time will go by fast.

"Sport ist Mord"

Its true I am telling you. (In case you don't speak German the saying above means Exercise is Murder) -

I know its an advertisement but it underlines my point!

See I have been really good this last week. The doggies got a walk every day, the days I work at the office and restaurant - Grumpy took them and I rode my bike when I got home at night.

Sunday I was scheduled for Busch Gardens. I was to attend the selling alcohol training and then go to the shop and see where they needed me. However when I went to our store they had enough people and I could go home which was great. The weather was nice, not to warm and I decided it would be a great day to walk to pups down to the Nature Park.

Its quite a little trip (about 6 mile round trip) but we did good. It takes about and hour each way. We stopped at the doggy park to get some water and I let them run around a bit since no one was there.
However I found that Mac really does not like little yappy mini pincher - there was one in a yard and she nearly took my arm off. We took the same route again yesterday -

YES I walked 12 miles in two day are you proud of me!!!

One the way home we heard the little yappy thing from a block away so I went to the other side of the street until I thought it was save. What I didn't know was that there was some miniature collie in another house - that thing cam at us barking and followed us down the fricken side walk. It was all I could do to hold back Mac and Sassy.

See the reason we don't go to dog parks is Sassy plays very aggressive and she has no problems biting others. Of course the owners from that damn collie were nowhere in sight. I was so pissed. Luckily I finally managed to get my two out of there.

So today I am paying dearly for all the exercise. Not only do my legs hurt but my upper body especially my arms do too. I am not surprised after all I had to pull 220+ pound of determined dogs in the opposite direction they wanted to go. And of course I am working tonight at the restaurant and if I remember right we have a few big parties. Lets hope I will have the use of my arms by then.

I know some of you wanted to comment but the comment link is gone - not sure why but I am working on it

okay just found it. there is a post option now in each post and I guess the default is set on not letting comments

There is a cat in the dog house!

Sorry I haven't posted much this week. Nothing really has been happening. Grumpy and I started to make the time to walk to dogs every day at least around the block. Of course when we did it the first time on Monday I had to go get my jacket out of the car and Sassy thought we were going for a ride and kept hoping in the trunk. It was pretty funny. On days during the week that I work in the restaurant Grumpy takes both of them for their walk. The nice thing about the walk (aside the much needed exercise for us) is that we can reiterate their training. We make them stop and sit and all the fun stuff. Its working too Grumpy said he notices Sassy hesitates on occasion like she thinks about biting but she hasn't. The days I work at the Restaurant I have been riding my bike around the neighbor hood. I am getting in shape last night I was half way around the block before I started getting out of breath and I did my distance in record time too. Grumpy said I need to increase my distance but I want to hold of a couple more weeks. My knees are fragile (2 motorcycle accidents) and I don't want to mess them up by doing to much to soon. I am in no hurry.

Anyhow when I got home from the restaurant I was in a crappy mood. We had a party on the patio (a seminar thing) the same people had been there Tuesday and its easy to work. Well there were only 20 and I told Ronnie I didn't need any help but he made me take the new girl. Well except for my Scottish friend I hate working parties with other people because I end up having to do the majority of the work and then split my tips with them. Same thing here, I did 80% of the work during the party and 90% of the clean up after the party and had to give her 1/2 the tip which wasn't that much to begin with.

My mood did get much better when I got home and happend to glance into Macs house. This is what I saw. Little Miss Cleo decided that she should have Macs house. She came out long enough to say hello to me and then went back in. Of course once Mac came inside from the yard she decided to go upstairs into my bed. The thing thats funny about all this is that Cleo is really not that big on the dogs she tends to stay upstairs when they are in the house.

Well I am off tonight. I am meeting my English friend for dinner at the restaurant since our Scottish friend is working tonight and that way she can join us for a drink when she gets off. Tomorrow I have to work at night at the restaurant and Sunday its working at Busch Gardens. Lets hope the weather stays nice so I wont freeze my butt off.

weekend

So the weekend was pretty busy. Friday night I worked at the restaurant. Thank god it wasn't busy because besides Vinnie and me there were two new people and 2 busboys turned waiters that are not yet old enought to make drinks. So essentially I spend the night answering questions and making drinks.

Saturday I had to go up to Busch Gardens for the Alumni Orientation. We got to see the video for our new rollercoaster. I can't wait to ride it. They told us that they'd need people to ride it for photo ops and training I am hoping its on a day that I can make it. Otherwise I am sure I'd have to wait a few years to get on it because I am not waiting forever.
After the training I went to interview an new family and then went home. I went over to a friends house that night for "Craft club" and managed to scrap book 5 pages - sadly I am still working on the wedding book. I haven't started on the honeymoon or anything since then. I seem to only work on with when I make it to "Craft club".

Sunday it was back to Busch for more training the cool thing was I got my ID. This means that when I am in San Diego in a few weeks I can go to Sea world - for FREE!!!!!!!!! So I maped the hotel and its only 7 miles away from sea world. I am soooo excite I have never been andcant wait. I am even getting a new camera. Thanks to Mr. Jin for helping me pick one out. The only bad thing is the park is only open till 5pm so I will have to rush - even if I get to go on both days. But be sure I'll have plenty of good pictures

I am loved

I have some really cool pictures and a pretty long post about this weekend but I can't upload them and I am to tired for the post.

Today after the Birthday party with the au pairs (hence the b-day cake from Jin) I met Grumpy at Busch Gardens. Check out the videos for one of the shows. I will see if I can upload and write the full post tomorrow so come back and check for it.

Visitors

After I got up from my nap this afternoon I got a message from my two Marines that they wanted to come over. So we decided that they should come by the restaurant for dinner and then head home with me. We were only 4 waiters tonight vs our usual 6 so I did not get out until almost 11 pm and the cooks left without making anything for us :(. Luckily there was some Bruschetta left so I snacked on that with some yummy garlic bread before heading home.)

Maureen couldn't wait to meet the puppies and kitties. They are heading to Busch Gardens tomorrow so I may go up with them to play before I go to work if I am up to it. Otherwise they'll stop by the kiddie land store that I am going to be at to say hi for sure. Austin is leaving on Monday to go to his new duty station in San Diego. Thankfully he got his stationed changed there from 29 Palms. 29 Palms has had a lot of causalties overseas and I was really worried for a while there. Maureen will join him in S.D. in November. They will be there for the rest of their enlistment so I am glad they'll be save there as their new base is the boot camp.
Anyhow I better go finish homework.

Exotic Bombe

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Originally uploaded by dino0477.

If you peaked at the comments you saw that I have had two of these so far. They are soo good. This is one of the new desserts we had at the restaurant. It is Mango, Passion fruit and Rasberry sorbet enclosed by white chocolate. I got one on Friday and it was so good that when I left Saturday I had to ask for another one. I did share a little bit of the second one with Grumpy. Well he got most of the chocolate anyway.
The weekend was utterly uneventful. I worked at the restaurant and at Busch Gardens. Checked in with my English friend on the way home last night to get her some ginger ale as she was out of commission with food poisoning from icky chinese food. Speaking of chinese - I read in my German newspaper that they killed 50 000 dogs in China because of rabies. People were told to kill their dogs or have the police kill them. They were reimbursed 60 cents. Now there is no way that all these dogs had rabies, why did no one do anything about this????????????

This weekend

This weekend
Originally uploaded by dino0477.

So there hasn't been any food porn from me in a while so here it is.

The weekend was a nightmare. By Monday morning I had one au pair that wants to go home, one that I have to send home because she works on the side and one that wants to switch families. Gee when it rains it pours. Saturday I had to do a touch base interview with one of the families and ended up watching the host mom artificially inseminate one of their horses while she chatted with me ?!?!?!?!?
The night was pretty quiet at the restaurant I did not make much money but didn't have to work for it either. I was trying to leave early as I finally got in touch with “my” Marines and they wanted me to come down. However my tables sat until after ten so it was to late. I didn't get out till past midnight as I was chatting with the girls.

Sunday sucked. I was dead tired and had to be at Busch Gardens early. It was so slow I was so bored that I started cleaning behind the registers and organized the snowman ornaments by names. I did get a fresh Funnel cake with strawberries and whip cream. I had gone up to Busch Saturday to buy 2 discount tickets for one of my au pairs who had friends coming in. Well I took a survey while I was up there and got 2 comp tickets - which since I get in for free I gave them those tickets. So in return I told them jokingly I expected a funnel cake when they come up on Sunday. I had to share it with everyone in the shop as it was way too much for me. But it was good!!!!!.

After work I headed home and was so tired I could not concentrate on my homework. I asked Grumpy to get some Chinese (he had to go to 3 places as the first two where closed) and then decided to take the 20% grade deduction for not turning in my paper by midnight - but go on to bed. I figured the paper would have been no good had I written it last night so I rather do it tonight when I am a bit more awake. The Chinese was good we hadn’t tired that place – my bean curd was awesome. I had the rest for lunch. But breakfast was even better. Grumpy worked until 6 am so he stopped at Panera and got me a chocolate chip bagel. I love those but the bagel places here will only make it for February.

Housewarming, school and work

FW:
Originally uploaded by dino0477.

Saturday Grumpy and I both took off work so we could attend the housewarming party of one of my associates. She inherited this old house from her grandma and had it completely renovated. It looks amazing inside. Grumpy and I were supposed to have lunch with friends that day but they never called (turned out later the plane was 6h delayed) so when we got to the party I was starving. The only thing there for me to eat however was chocolate covered strawberries. So we stayed a respectable amount of time and then headed to the Restaurant where I got to eat my favorite Pasta and I got to rub in Brazils loss to the cook (hihi I know I am evil). We were going to go and catch a movie but ended up being to tired so we just went home.

It looked like I was going to be off from the park on Sunday. I had not been scheduled and I had not been called in as of Saturday. When I stumbled out of bed Sunday at around one a clock I went to check my cell and found a call from the park asking me to come in. The call was from 9 o'clock and I was hoping they did not need me anymore so I called them back. Well needless to say I ended up working in that heat. I have to say I do not like working on holiday weekends especially when it is hot. Most of the guests are really crabby and tend to take it out on us cast members.

Monday was my last day of school for my current class. I am glad this one is over and now I have a mini break till next week. The teacher in this class was not one of my favorites. Hopefully the next one will be better. Last night at the restaurant was great. I guess aside from the chains we were the only ones open because we were busy. I had no great tips but all good ones and my tables were all nice. The cooks had made bruschetta as appetizer mhh yummy it was so good.

Well let me go and fix something to eat and then I got to get ready for the Germany vs Italy game. I hope the Germans are prepared especially since one of their guys is not allowed to play. I may even start working on the other blog.

Sunday

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Originally uploaded by dino0477.

So as on most Sundays, I worked in Busch Gardens again today. It was unbelievably boring. I was in the store called German Gifts. Here they sell everything from Cockoo Clocks to nut crackers, Christmas ornaments and Beer steins. The picture above is fromthe store. As you can see that Nutcracker is hugh - next to him are the store doors. You can buy this one for about $7000.
There were a lot of people in the park today but not many had the money to buy stuff at the store so the time did not seem to pass at all. Of course the fact that I was up until 5 am finishing homework and did not get much sleep did not help either.

One of my friends texted me the scores for todays games and their outcome was pretty much as I had predicted. The next round should be interesting Germany will have to step up if they want to beat Argentina and England will have to play a bit better to advance further.

As I was walking out of the park I checked my voicemail and had a message from one of my host families - something about an accident. So I called the hostmon back just to find out that the au pair ran a red light and got in an accident and the preceded to leave the SCENE!!!! The hostmom told her to go back and by then the cops were already there. So this week should be fun.

I met Grumpy at the bar were we first met for a quick dinner. I had hoped to run into one of my friends that I had not seen in awhile but she wasn't there. I had left her a message that we where there and she did call me as we left. It was nice to chat with her and we made plans for next week when I am off from school. I have to say I have been a terrible friend of late as I am always busy. So I will try to be better.

LOD

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Originally uploaded by dino0477.

This is where I worked today. I was (as most sundays) working in Busch Gardens Williamsburg. I am usually lent out to other areas/stores and today I got to work in Land of the Dragons. That is the kiddie area for the smaller ones that can't go on the rides. I like working in their souvenir store. I like to interact with all the kiddies.

This is the tree house. There are slides, rides and water all the things kids love.

Today was pretty uneventfull, sleeping, homework, watching soccer (well 1 game) and working. I did get a call from the hostfamily that was interested in the Au pair and the Host mom said their meeting went great and she loved her. Then later on I talked to the au pair and she likes her as well. So looks like we may be good to go there.

So I am ready for bed. I am going to real quick answer your comments on yesterdays blog and then hit the sack.

Rest of the weekend

So it is Monday morning and I am at work. I just can't get motivated enough to actually work so I figured I update my blog and tell you about the rest of my weekend.

Well actually there is unfortunately nothing really to tell. Saturday morning I spend doing homework for my University of Phoenix class. My current teacher insists on having assignments turned in on Saturdays which really sucks because you do not have the weekend to work on the.
I went to work at the restaurant, got the same lousy section as the night before and ended up not making any money to speak of. It annoys the crab out of me (the section thing) but I guess I understand it to. My bosses son is waiting tables with us till July so he hooks him up (unfortunately his son is not the greatest waiter and my boss ends up having to help him) with the best section and the most tables. And to make matters worse one of the waitresses is dating my bosses best friend so she also gets great sections with lots of tables. I mean I made good money for what I had, I just did not get many tables (17 people - everyone else had 25 and more). The funny part is my boss loves me so that's kinda confusing. He seated me at 6:30ish the last time so when my last table got their check at about 7:45pm I told him what sidework I would do and if there was anything else he wanted me to do. He is like"you can't leave now" and my response was "R. You have not seated me in an hour and a half". R said "well get your tables cleaned and I seat you again (mind you 2 of my tables had been clean and set up for over an hour) So my response was "I have a party to go to so I do not want anymore tables, I am leaving". That was it, I did my cleaning and was out of there and at home before 9pm.

I called my friend whose b-day it was and told her we'd be over soon. I went home finished my homework and my friend called again. She said everyone had left to go to the club. I told her not to worry about us but to go on and go with them we'd see her tomorrow. (knowing grumpy in a club with a bunch of drunk and obnoxiously girls not a good idea.) Anyhow we decided to go and see X-man III. I have to say I was rather disappointed and Grumpy - an avid comic book reader- kept saying that is not how the book goes.

Sunday I had to work at a local Amusement Park - BUSCH GARDENS. I work in the merchandise department in Germany but tend to be loaned out throughout the park. I have worked there for 5 years and do it just for the benefits, right now just once a week. So I worked in my store for like 30min before I was sent to work in Games for a bit, after getting back to my store I was sent out to help a merchandise store in England putting away a big shipment. It did not take me long (matter of reorganizing the shelves and using common sense) and their supervisor could not believe how fast I finished and how much room they still have.
After taking my break I went back to my store and I guess the only interesting thing happened. I was talking to some guests when I glanced over to the door and saw 2 cast members with a guest that appeared to be crying standing there and using our phone to call security. I head between sobs something about lost and figured she lost her/a kid. This is nothing unusual and we know how to handle it and everyone is found and reunited with their party relatively fast. Well this girl (18) started to get hysterical and screamed at the two cast members and then at the guard. (BTW she had not the right clothes for a park - way to much bling bling) So as she gets louder I get more of the story. She lost her friends, well she did not lose them she got mad at them and walked out of where they were. The guard keeps trying to get her to describe her friends which she refuses while she keeps screaming at him (not to stereotype but she displayed behavior that I would call "hood" behavior) that he did not care and did not understand and she did not want to stand there she needs to be out looking for her friends instead of not doing anything. So after 30 min they all left the store and I look at my supervisor who told me she had a run in with her earlier. There she wanted to leave the park immediately and was asking how to get out. We decided she was high on crack or something and had lost a few too many brain cells due to that.
Incidentally not much later I had a real lost kid case. A 13 year old boy lost his uncle, he was calm, collected and gave me all the info including his uncles cell (which they had left in the car). I called security who went to look with him at the last place he saw his uncle. He was the complete opposite to the girl above.
That was pretty much the end of my shift and while walking out I ran into the guard that took the boy. I asked if they found his uncle and he replied no he took the boy to the Wild Moose Lodge where all our lost kiddies wait for their parents/party.

After getting home and soaking in the tub, Grumpy and I left to see the birthday girl. We hung out for a while and then left to go grab a quick bite at TGI Fridays ( I love their mudslides and their mash potatoes - which I eat with Jack Daniels sauce). After that I went home and crashed - well not until after I checked out my daily blog reading list.

So what did you do? I am sure it was more exciting than my weekend.

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Damn blogger I lost more than half the post and had to redo it all. I think I forgot something because the earlier one was longer but I can't remember.

Too boring

Well I hoped for more interesting stories to tell from this weekend but there really was nothing special to report. I went to work at Busch Gardens, the park was packed but most people were nice and had fun. After getting off I rushed home to finish cleaning the house on case anyone showed for the BBQ. Well noone did, well my friend Paula and her sister came by but headed on to another party. So Grumpy and I decided to go and see the Da Vinci Code. It was a great movie. Grumpy did try to distract me which my outfit made easy but I still got to see most of it. Today was great I did absolutely NOTHING. I just hung out at home with the kitties and doggies. It is very rare for me not to have to work one of my 4 jobs so I savor it when ever I can. Unfortunately Grumpy had to work so we could not go and take the doggies to the beach but we will one of these days.

I did get to chat with my friend from Switzerland today, she is coming over in July. She is going to visit the family whose au pair we both where.
*(I was the families au pair and Evelyn was in my group but with another family. We became realy good friends and hung out together all the time. When my year was finished my family decided that they do not need an aupair anymore. After my year was finished I went to travel for a bit and when I got back I found out that Evelyn had been kicked out by her family. She had only a few months left and her chances to find another family were slim to none. So I mentioned it to my Host Family and they decided to take her in. So Evelyn became their au pair. We both have kept in touch with one another and with the family.)*
I happen to have a meeting in Chicago while she is there. So I am planning to fly up a couple of days early and we have been talking about visiting Jin's store. I am so excited coffee, cake and good friends it will be awsome.

As you can see, things very pretty low key this weekend. How was yours?

6 hours are not enough

I am half asleep as I am writing this. Nothing to crazy or freakish occurred the last couple of days that was blog worthy. I waitressed last night, but did not end up with great tips or tables but didn't end up with crappy ones either. My friend came by the restaurant and after I got off, we had a couple of drinks there before we left for a bar close by. The band was decent and it was not too crowded.
We had not been out together in a while and I had a great time so did not even think about checking in with Grumpy
*(When I first met my hubby he was the bouncer in a bar I went to a lot with above mentioned friend. He was always there and had this facial expression as if he was going to break every bone in your body. I never knew his name so I nicknamed him Grumpy and the name sort of stuck). *
By the time my friend dropped me back at my car it was after 2am and I had a few missed calls. Grumpy was not thrilled when I got home. He said he drove past the restaurant and saw my car and got worried. He had called a few times unsuccessful since I had left my phone in my purse in my car. When I told him that my friend and I had decided to do this more often he said okay just keep your phone with you. Isn't it cute how he was worried?
So I got to bed somewhere around 3ish and got up at 9 to make sure Grumpy got up in time for work. After some cleaning and prepping for tomorrows BBQ I went to work at the restaurant. It turned out to be busier than anticipated which was good. I saw a few people that I knew and had 3 tables with really good tips.
Now I am so tired as 6 hours of sleep were not enough and once the meatballs are done I will pass out I am sure. Tomorrow should be busy, I have to work 10-4 at Busch Gardens (I get to wear my German outfit - joy) and then people should start coming over. Hopefully I'll have something blogworthy to report about that.
So what did you end up doing this weekend?